first, take some time to read this.
Must-have drivers:
Chipset - Intel INF Update Driver
Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver
Intel Management Engine Interface
USB - Intel USB3.0 Driver
VGA - nVidia Graphics Driver
Audio - Via Audio Driver
LAN - Atheros LAN Driver
Wireless - Atheros or Intel WiFi Wireless LAN Driver, depending on what you have
Card Reader - Alcor Multi-Card Reader Driver
TouchPad - Elantech Touchpad driver
BlueTooth - Atheros or Intel BlueTooth driver, depending on what you have
ATK ACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities - for fn keys to work
ASUS Virtual Camera Utility
Keyboard Device Filter Utility
Gaming Mouse Driver - if you used the gaming mouse
Useful Utilities:
AI Recovery utility - one of the very first things you should do is to create a set of recovery DVDs with this; if possible, create the DVD/BD ISOs for backup purposes
ASUS Wireless Switch (Wireless Console3) Utility
ASUS USB Charger Plus
Power4Gear Hybrid Utility
Less Useful Utilities:
ASUS Live Update Utility
ASUS Instant Connect - never used this before
MyBitCast - never used this before
Instant On - never used this before
WebCam Utility - maybe you need this
ASUS Splendid Video Enhancement Technology - never used this before
Nvidia PhysX Utility - latest nvidia installers should have this bundled
Naked 3D Panel Driver - never used this before
What about the BIOS update, is it recommended to do it?
- if your machine works fine, it's ok not to update. maybe you should dig around here to look for potential issues and solutions.
Is there any recommended or really useful/nice software that come with the laptop that I should install?
- this is entirely depending on your personal preferences too. just keep what you think is useful. if you happened to have mcAfee on the list, it's better to uninstall it and use other alternatives, because it's one of the most common cause of many 'issues' here.
also, test everything you can before your return or one-to-one exchange window expired, particularly performing stress tests on GPU/CPU (pay attention to the temperature); dead pixels on display panel; open and close the lid to see if the display is normal; play DVDs to see the ODD is ok, etc.
if you have a question, you can start by searching for answers in the forum first (maybe they were answered before, with practical solutions)
Must-have drivers:
Chipset - Intel INF Update Driver
Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver
Intel Management Engine Interface
USB - Intel USB3.0 Driver
VGA - nVidia Graphics Driver
Audio - Via Audio Driver
LAN - Atheros LAN Driver
Wireless - Atheros or Intel WiFi Wireless LAN Driver, depending on what you have
Card Reader - Alcor Multi-Card Reader Driver
TouchPad - Elantech Touchpad driver
BlueTooth - Atheros or Intel BlueTooth driver, depending on what you have
ATK ACPI driver and hotkey-related utilities - for fn keys to work
ASUS Virtual Camera Utility
Keyboard Device Filter Utility
Gaming Mouse Driver - if you used the gaming mouse
Useful Utilities:
AI Recovery utility - one of the very first things you should do is to create a set of recovery DVDs with this; if possible, create the DVD/BD ISOs for backup purposes
ASUS Wireless Switch (Wireless Console3) Utility
ASUS USB Charger Plus
Power4Gear Hybrid Utility
Less Useful Utilities:
ASUS Live Update Utility
ASUS Instant Connect - never used this before
MyBitCast - never used this before
Instant On - never used this before
WebCam Utility - maybe you need this
ASUS Splendid Video Enhancement Technology - never used this before
Nvidia PhysX Utility - latest nvidia installers should have this bundled
Naked 3D Panel Driver - never used this before
What about the BIOS update, is it recommended to do it?
- if your machine works fine, it's ok not to update. maybe you should dig around here to look for potential issues and solutions.
Is there any recommended or really useful/nice software that come with the laptop that I should install?
- this is entirely depending on your personal preferences too. just keep what you think is useful. if you happened to have mcAfee on the list, it's better to uninstall it and use other alternatives, because it's one of the most common cause of many 'issues' here.
also, test everything you can before your return or one-to-one exchange window expired, particularly performing stress tests on GPU/CPU (pay attention to the temperature); dead pixels on display panel; open and close the lid to see if the display is normal; play DVDs to see the ODD is ok, etc.
if you have a question, you can start by searching for answers in the forum first (maybe they were answered before, with practical solutions)
Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver
- for me, this is the replacement of Microsoft's AHCI driver that are still actively developed.
Intel Management Engine Interface
- I think this one is related to the anti-theft mechanism in the bios. it is an optional protection service that is offered by third party vendors.
Keyboard Device Filter Utility
- i don't know what this does but i think it has something to do with the keyboard.
ASUS Wireless Switch (Wireless Console3) Utility - To switch between Wi-Fi and BlueTooth more quickly?
- yes. you can try it out first (use fn+f2 keys)
ASUS USB Charger Plus - To charge USB devices more efficiently?
- supposedly. i don't have this one installed though
Power4Gear Hybrid Utility - Maybe for TurboBoost?
- this is the power management tool from ASUS. it has a set of predefined power plans for your laptop that you can just click and apply
- the TurboBoost is a CPU technology from Intel, that allows the CPU to run much faster when needed (e.g. under heavy loads). the boost happens automatically, and i think we do not have controls on it.
Do I need to burn the recovery DVDs as I'm gonna use a brand new Windows and that I never want to restore the computer as it was when I bought it? Is there any advantage to do it in that case?
- in that case, no. however, that is the only chance to get a full copy of your recovery DVDs when it's still available. this is just a precaution step, in case things didn't work out for you, and you just wish if you have created these disks to restore your laptop to its factory state 🙂
Should I install the video driver from ROG's website or from NVidia's one? Does it make any difference (maybe it's not always up to date on ROG's website?)
- it will take time for vendors like ASUS and others to release new drivers. normally when they are listed for download, they're quite old already. it's ok if you can use the latest from NVidia, because if things don't work, you still have the option to get back to the working drivers from ASUS.
Is there a driver to make the ROG button work and switch between the different modes or does it work by default?
- i'm not sure about this one. i have a 3D model of g55, and the ROG button turns the 3D on/off.
to be honest, don't worry about all that. there are many experienced people here to help you out. just come and ask.
g55 is a good machine in general 🙂 for me it has plenty of rooms for upgrades, which might make it last for a good 3 years or more.
- for me, this is the replacement of Microsoft's AHCI driver that are still actively developed.
Intel Management Engine Interface
- I think this one is related to the anti-theft mechanism in the bios. it is an optional protection service that is offered by third party vendors.
Keyboard Device Filter Utility
- i don't know what this does but i think it has something to do with the keyboard.
ASUS Wireless Switch (Wireless Console3) Utility - To switch between Wi-Fi and BlueTooth more quickly?
- yes. you can try it out first (use fn+f2 keys)
ASUS USB Charger Plus - To charge USB devices more efficiently?
- supposedly. i don't have this one installed though
Power4Gear Hybrid Utility - Maybe for TurboBoost?
- this is the power management tool from ASUS. it has a set of predefined power plans for your laptop that you can just click and apply
- the TurboBoost is a CPU technology from Intel, that allows the CPU to run much faster when needed (e.g. under heavy loads). the boost happens automatically, and i think we do not have controls on it.
Do I need to burn the recovery DVDs as I'm gonna use a brand new Windows and that I never want to restore the computer as it was when I bought it? Is there any advantage to do it in that case?
- in that case, no. however, that is the only chance to get a full copy of your recovery DVDs when it's still available. this is just a precaution step, in case things didn't work out for you, and you just wish if you have created these disks to restore your laptop to its factory state 🙂
Should I install the video driver from ROG's website or from NVidia's one? Does it make any difference (maybe it's not always up to date on ROG's website?)
- it will take time for vendors like ASUS and others to release new drivers. normally when they are listed for download, they're quite old already. it's ok if you can use the latest from NVidia, because if things don't work, you still have the option to get back to the working drivers from ASUS.
Is there a driver to make the ROG button work and switch between the different modes or does it work by default?
- i'm not sure about this one. i have a 3D model of g55, and the ROG button turns the 3D on/off.
to be honest, don't worry about all that. there are many experienced people here to help you out. just come and ask.
g55 is a good machine in general 🙂 for me it has plenty of rooms for upgrades, which might make it last for a good 3 years or more.
the sole purpose of investing ssds is to boost load times of OS and apps. it's entirely up to your daily usage. for light and medium usage, intel 330 or crucial m4 are sufficient. in terms of ocz drives, vertex 4 sata iii would be my choice over vertex 2/3. if you are referring to newegg.com, crucial m4, intel 330 and vertex 4 are almost the same in price. i will definitely go for vertex 4.
however, i would recommend intel 520, and samsung 830 because i haven't faced any problem with these two.
my advice would be getting one with 240-256GB. if you compared this capacity over the others (60+, 120+, or sometimes even 480-512GB), this is the best capacity that has highest yields in performance indicators (seq. read/writes, iops).
edit: i just realized i didn't answer your question right:
1. sata ii ssd should work with sata iii controller. however, i personally prefer to get the matching ones, so that i do not need to think of the compatibility issues.
2. yes, i think it would be nice to get a vertex 4 sata iii instead of vertex 2, due to a number of reasons (vertex 4 uses sata iii, has much higher performance indicators; the price is not that expensive if compared to some brands with lower specs; you can find a cheaper source to get it)
3. i'm not sure if there is a huge difference between the two models to you, because it really depends on your daily usage.
however, i would recommend intel 520, and samsung 830 because i haven't faced any problem with these two.
my advice would be getting one with 240-256GB. if you compared this capacity over the others (60+, 120+, or sometimes even 480-512GB), this is the best capacity that has highest yields in performance indicators (seq. read/writes, iops).
edit: i just realized i didn't answer your question right:
1. sata ii ssd should work with sata iii controller. however, i personally prefer to get the matching ones, so that i do not need to think of the compatibility issues.
2. yes, i think it would be nice to get a vertex 4 sata iii instead of vertex 2, due to a number of reasons (vertex 4 uses sata iii, has much higher performance indicators; the price is not that expensive if compared to some brands with lower specs; you can find a cheaper source to get it)
3. i'm not sure if there is a huge difference between the two models to you, because it really depends on your daily usage.
ok good luck with that 🙂 and welcome to ROG.
i always use usb to install (BIOS install, not UEFI install). to prepare the usb stick, i do this:
- in elevated command prompt (be careful, triple-check and make sure you select the right disk in command 3.):
1. diskpart
2. list disk
3. select disk
4. create partition primary
5. active
6. format quick fs=ntfs
7. assign
8. exit
the above basically create a blank usb stick that is bootable. now just copy all the contents from the windows 7 install disk to the usb stick.
now, pull out your odd with hdd first, and put your ssd in the primary hdd bay. proceed with the installation (plug in your usb stick, boot the computer and press esc key during ROG logo shows up). in the popup menu, your usb stick should be listed. select it and continue.
the installation should be working properly.
edit: keep your hdd with working stock windows for a period of time. after everything is ok and stable, then it's up to you to reorganize it to your needs. after that, activate your windows (for me this is always the last step).
- in elevated command prompt (be careful, triple-check and make sure you select the right disk in command 3.):
1. diskpart
2. list disk
3. select disk
4. create partition primary
5. active
6. format quick fs=ntfs
7. assign
8. exit
the above basically create a blank usb stick that is bootable. now just copy all the contents from the windows 7 install disk to the usb stick.
now, pull out your odd with hdd first, and put your ssd in the primary hdd bay. proceed with the installation (plug in your usb stick, boot the computer and press esc key during ROG logo shows up). in the popup menu, your usb stick should be listed. select it and continue.
the installation should be working properly.
edit: keep your hdd with working stock windows for a period of time. after everything is ok and stable, then it's up to you to reorganize it to your needs. after that, activate your windows (for me this is always the last step).
